Ultrathin disposable gastroscope for screening and surveillance of gastroesophageal varices in patients with liver cirrhosis: a prospective comparative study

Reliability and safety of transnasal compared to conventional endoscopy for detecting oesophageal varices in cirrhotic patients

“…were related to overestimation of the presence of oesophageal varices Two small sample size studies have evaluated the interobserver agreement of ultrathin endoscopies in the presence of cirrhosis. 15,16 Our results were aligned with previous publications reporting an excellent (κ = 0.83) interobserver agreement for the detection of oesophageal varices in a higher sample size. In addition, similar results were observed in the setting of variceal screening and in patients with compensated cirrhosis.…”

“…A single large study in the United States of America reported a satisfactory interobserver agreement and high accuracy for detecting high-risk varices by small-calibre endoscopy compared to conventional GIE in patients with cirrhosis (n = 115; 71% Child-Pugh B/C).However, the peroral route was used in both types of endoscopy and all patients underwent conscious sedation in this study, challenging the validation of these results for transnasal endoscopy in unsedated patients 11. Promising results were described by Huynh et al16 in 48 Australian unsedated cirrhotic patients (79% Child-Pugh A) using a peroral ultrathin disposable gastroscope. However, the technology used by those authors is slightly different from that used in our study: their device consists of a disposable probe with capacity for insufflation and it stills a proof of concept for upper endoscopic examination in Asia 17.…”

“…Promising results were described by Huynh et al in 48 Australian unsedated cirrhotic patients (79% Child‐Pugh A) using a peroral ultrathin disposable gastroscope. However, the technology used by those authors is slightly different from that used in our study: their device consists of a disposable probe with capacity for insufflation and it stills a proof of concept for upper endoscopic examination in Asia .…”

“…Two small sample size studies have evaluated the interobserver agreement of ultrathin endoscopies in the presence of cirrhosis …”

“…Some studies have been describing high sensitivities and specificities of small-calibre or ultrathin GIE for identifying oesophageal varices in cirrhotic patients ( Table 5). [8][9][10][11][15][16][17] However, these limited sample size studies have used different technologies and distinct tube insertion routes. The present study reported similar results for detecting oesophageal varices using a transnasal ultrathin gastroscope in unsedated patients with cirrhosis (Table 4).…”